The expansion of corporations over multiple geographic locations locally, regionally, nationally and even internationally places an extra burden on the information management resources. Enterprise networks provide a means of interconnecting these locations in support of IP- and telephone-based communications. Both IP and telephone systems management play an important role in the corporation maintaining a competitive posture in industry.
Many companies employ PBX (private branch exchange) telephone systems to manage large numbers of calls between employees, customers, and/or vendors. Typically, PBXs can require configuration on an individual system level. Thus, telephone system administrators are required at each company PBX location, or if not, assigned to systems in the area so that configuration and troubleshooting can be conducted in a relatively expedient manner. This limitation demands not only extra resources to administer multiple separate systems management, but adds to the cost for technology management when companies have enterprise networks that can include a number of PBXs to handle company telephone communications. Moreover, when the corporations are international, which is a growing trend in an expanding global economy, it can be vitally important to maintain the integrity of the telephone communications system. Equipment failures, hardware/software update processes and/or offline functions can all impact the bottom line of the company. Accordingly, in large corporate environments or even smaller companies that outsource such management responsibilities can require 24-hour oversight management by personnel to address system problems.
Furthermore, where corporate locations are in different countries, each country can have different regulatory compliance restrictions when, for example, a VoIP (voice-over-IP) call traverses from a global communications network such as the Internet to the local or public switched telephone network (or PSTN). A VoIP telephony system is a dynamic system comprised of multiple interdependent parts. When a gateway goes down or is removed from the system, the phone routing rules must be updated dynamically to prevent lost calls. Moreover, in order to sell VoIP products and solutions in those countries, compliance with national regulations must be closely monitored and followed. Additionally, changing regulations can be difficult and complex to accommodate, let alone anticipate in the design of hardware and/or software that drive the telephone systems and networks. Thus, the capability to efficiently manage telephone system operations can have a significant impact on the success or failure of a company.